118 SPORT IN NORTH AMERICA. 



Montcalm (U.S. Navy), was ordered to St. Jolin to 

 see to the matter, and arrange it as much as possible 

 to the benefit of his co-eitizeus. I know not how 

 the notion came into my head to accompany 

 Captain Wilson, who very kindly offered me a berth 

 on board in the officers' cabin; but this I know, 

 that on tlie evening before the departure of the 

 Montcalm, I said "yes^' to the Captain's offer, and 

 enrolled myself as one of his crew for a fifteen or 

 twenty days' voyage. 



I pass over our journe}'- from Boston to Saint 

 Pierre, which is the first part of Newfoundland that 

 comes in sight. What struck me most during the 

 passage, which was favoured with the best of weather, 

 was the enormous quantity of fish to be seen in the 

 waters. These inhabitants of the sea, like birds 

 of strong flight, were gifted with a power of swim- 

 ming which enabled them to clear long distances 

 with great celerity, and as they passed through the 

 water they were constantly meeting with something 

 to be swallowed without the necessity of stopping 

 for a moment. They darted round our vessel and 

 leapt out of the water like living flashes of silver. 

 I examined with minute attention the liglit and 

 brilliant bonitos [Thynnus Pelmnys) balancing them- 

 selves on the waves, and the pilot-fish {Naucrates 

 ductor) swimming round the vessel and sporting in 

 the foam. The tunny-fish were in shoals, and the 

 sport of fishing for them was the great delight of 



